The US jobless rate fell back to 10 per cent in November, as the economy shed the fewest jobs since the recession started two years ago, offering a promising sign that the labour market is starting to mend.

Official figures released on Friday showed that employers cut 11,000 jobs last month, far below the 125,000 job losses that many Wall Street analysts were predicting and pulling the unemployment rate back from a 26-year high of 10.2 per cent. That was a substantial improvement from October, when non-farm payrolls fell by a revised 111,000.